First Sunday Music - Ravel

[HoosierHawk]

Maurice Ravel

Born on March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées, Ravel studied at the Paris Conservatoire from 1899 to 1905, where his most influential teacher was the French composer Gabriel Fauré. Because of the tonal color, harmonies, mood, and extramusical associations of much of his music, Ravel is often associated with the French impressionistic composer Claude Debussy. Unlike Debussy, however, he was strongly attracted to abstract, logical musical structures. His vivid, transparent orchestral colors rank him as one of the modern masters of orchestration.

Ravel's impressionistic leanings are foremost in the piano suites Miroirs and Gaspard de la nuit, and in the Rhapsodie espagnole for orchestra written in 1908. He was gifted at evoking past eras in works such as the "Pavane pour une infante défunte", "Valses nobles et sentimentales", and "Le Tombeau de Couperin", all written for piano and later orchestrated. His classicism is also evident in the important String Quartet, the Sonatina for piano, and later chamber works such as the Sonata for Violin and Cello.

Ravel's stage works include the operas L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges, the celebrated orchestral Boléro, originally for solo dancer; and the impressionistic ballet Daphnis et Chloé, commissioned by the Russian impresario Sergey Diaghilev, who also staged arrangements of earlier Ravel pieces such as the suite Ma Mere l'Oye (Mother Goose). Ravel's last major work was the Piano Concerto in D, for the left hand, written in 1931 for the Viennese pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961), who had lost his right arm in World War I. Stricken with a neurological disorder in 1932, Ravel died in Paris on December 28, 1937. Interestingly, the royalties from the movie, Bolero, help make his estate, (at nearly two million pounds), one of the wealthiest ever left by a composer.

Ravel - Part I
Bolero
Miroirs
Alborada del Gracioso
Une barque sur l'ocean
Rapsodie espagnole

Ravel - Part II
La Valse
Pavane pour una infante defunte
Menuet antique
Daphnis et Chloe (Suite No. 2)
Lever du jour
Pantomime
Danse generale

[HoosierHawk]

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[HoosierHawk]

Ping to First Sunday Music with Ravel.

[sitetest]

Dear HoosierHawk,

Thanks for the ping!

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sitetest

[Borges]

There are no film or audio recordings of the man. Suprirsing considering that he lived till 1937 and was an international celebrity.

[MrsPatriot]

I have tried and tried to enjoy Ravel’s music, but I just can’t; I guess it’s too modern for me. Thanks for the ping, anyway.

[JoeProBono]

Splended ping. Thanks much.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Oh, thank you so much my wonderful friend.

I just came across it.

I am going to put it good and loud so my brain-dead neighbors can hear it.

My best regards.

[Borges]

Ravel is pretty easy to take compared to some of Mahler and Debussy.

[curmudgeonII]

Thamk you.

[HoosierHawk]

Glad you enjoy.

[HoosierHawk]

I’m no expert, but some of Mahler is brutal.

[MrsPatriot]

Well, now, I’ll agree with you on Mahler, but I do love some of Debussy.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Daphnis et Chloé was a transformative experience for me the first time I heard it.

[Publius]

You should find a link to his String Quartet in F. It’s the best thing he ever wrote.

[Gone_Postal]

bump for later listening

[vimto]

I agree, but it isn't typical. Emotionally raw, as if he let his guard down.

[Sans-Culotte]

I have tried and tried to enjoy Ravel’s music, but I just can’t; I guess it’s too modern for me. Thanks for the ping, anyway.

Well, if you like the orchestra version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition that is in large part due to Ravel's superb orchestration. I am not a huge Ravel fan, and consider him quite a minor composer, but I do like a few of his pieces.

If you find him too modern, I recommend a suite called Le Tombeau de Couperin, which is probably my favorite Ravel piece. Also, Pavane pour une infante defunte is pretty classical sounding.

More modern, but still nice are Alborada del gracioso amd Rhapsodie Espagnole. I never cared for Bolero. One of the boringest things ever written as music. Ravel intended it to be ballet music. However, it is often performed at orchestra concerts where its repetitiveness is quite apparent. I once had a choreographer describe how she would stage Bolero. It would be the arrival of a desert caravan, beginning with a few personages, and ending with the entire caravan filling up the stage at the end. Performed that way, it would work.

[HoosierHawk]

Part I

I like it.

[parisa]

Bump for listening later.

[Publius]

The scherzo movement is magnificent.